The route favoured by the organisers of the Malta Marathon was “not compliant with today’s realities”, Transport Malta chairman Joe Bugeja said on Thursday at a press conference where the marathon’s replacement – a charity marathon organised by TM and Sport Malta – was announced. 

Transport Malta Chairman Joe Bugeja together with Sport Malta CEO Mark Cutajar addressed the media earlier today in order to officially announce the Charity Marathon which will occur in two weeks’ time.

The original marathon was to be organised by Malta Marathon but after their original route was scrapped by Transport Malta, they deemed the alternative route proposed as too unsafe and decided not to organise the event altogether. 

This announcement was made on Tuesday following a meeting with TM officials.

Apart from announcing the marathon, Transport Malta and Sport Malta also addressed recent revelations made in the media about the originally planned marathon.

Bugeja started off by explaining why the original Malta Marathon route was binned. “Although the marathon had been organised for 30 years, the route proposed by Malta Marathon was not taking into consideration today’s realities when it comes to road infrastructure and so on,” Bugeja said. 

Bugeja stressed on the importance of keeping the marathon safe both for the runners as well as keeping all channels for emergency services open. This was said due to the fact that according to Bugeja, with the original route, a number of emergency services such as the Mater Dei ambulance would be blocked from certain parts of the island.

The new route of the marathon would be exactly the same as that proposed by TM to Malta Marathon. 

The Malta Marathon organisers had said that they were told by the Red Cross, Mater Dei Emergency Services and the Malta Traffic Police that the proposed route was too dangerous in the case of an emergency. 

This statement contrasts heavily with what both TM and Sport Malta stated in the announcement of their marathon. 

“Sport Malta and Transport Malta will be using the exact same route proposed to Malta Marathon and everyone concerned (Red Cross, Mater Dei and Police) is on board with the decision,” they said. 

Cutajar then spoke of the obligation Sport Malta had to organise such an event. “Our obligation is to help promote various sporting activities across Malta and Gozo.” 

He also stated that in accordance to the relevant health mitigation measures in place, Health Superintendent Charmaine Gauci signed off on the event provided that runners run in packs of 200, two minutes apart. 

In his final statement Cutajar extended his hand as a form of invitation for the Malta Marathon organisers to help with the organisation of this charity marathon as “the success of such events in Malta is key.”